When signing up for Into to PR with Jennifer Mullen, I was pretty confident that I would enjoy the class. The previous semester I took Comm 101 with her and after that class I declared a Communication major with a concentration in Public Relations. I enjoyed the class so much because it wasn’t like I was doing work; I actually got the concept and liked learning more. After taking a three semesters of foundational studies classes something finally clicked.

In Intro to PR Mullen really pushed social media skills on us. For the class we were graded weekly on blog entries, tweets, and our LinkedIn profile. At the beginning I wasn’t so sure of this approach, but I figured it would be an easy A, so I went along with it. About half way through the semester I got an E-mail about a really awesome internship opportunity with The Campus Special, and applied. One evening I got on my LinkedIn and saw that one of the Account Managers from The Campus Special had looked at my profile. I had no idea what to do. Then, the next day I had my first phone interview with the company. Three interviews later, an intense venting about my nervousness and resume building session with Mullen, I had the position. Now I am leaving for training this Friday in Chicago, and who knows if it would have been possible without Mullen having us make a LinkedIn profile! We also did things such as write press releases and campaigns for actually non-profit organizations. I had applied these skills to my other classes and it has been a great help already having the knowledge, and even a template to help along the way. Being in a class that offers real world experience gives you a feel for whether or not this is a field that is for you.

Aside from that, Mullen is one of my favorite professors I have had at Indiana State. She doesn’t bore you with busy work. She tells you how it is and doesn’t waste your time. She also doesn’t let you waste hers. She gives clear deadlines for assignments and sticks to them; which I like. It might not be nice the night before it’s due, but in the real world, especially the PR world, there are real deadlines. Mullen is also so passionate about what she does that it shows through in her teaching. Having a professor that is a cheerleader for your success makes all of the difference. After being in one of her classes for the past two semesters I’m not sure how I feel about her not offering any other courses! If you are a student at ISU thinking about taking her class, I highly recommend it.

Its Spring Week and Indiana State University! That means the competition starts and the fun and games begin! Each year ISU organizations participate in Spring week.The theme for this year’s Spring Week was “We Heart the 90’s!” This year the organizations include Residence Halls, ROTC, and Greek Life. They participate in activities such as Remix, sculpture contest, a carnival, and service days, to name a few. All activities that are participated in are judged and the organizations are given points. At the end of the week the students with the most points are given a trophy and deemed the winner. There are also awards given for each winner of the individual event. I will describe the events below.

Speaker: This year’s Spring Week is provided a speaker to speak on the importance of advocating against rape victims. Students gathered around the fountain, received shirts, and listened.

Remix: Every year the organizations that participate in Spring Week are given a song and are supposed to make up a dance to the song. The songs given this year were songs such as Livin Lavida Loca, Hammer Time, The Mocarana. There are judges at the event and the organization with the highest score gets the points for Spring Week.

Sculpture Contest: This year since the theme is the 90’s, organizations were to build a sculpture out of Leggos into something from the 90’s One example was that Alpha Sigma Alpha made a giant Mario out of their Leggos.

Carnival: Among all of the events held, there is also a carnival. At the carnival they held activities such as face painting, bingo, snacks, and door prizes. The prizes included games and movies from the 90’s, a flat screen TV, and a Wii.

Tandem Race: This event is the most demanding of all. Each organization builds a team for the tandem bike race. The tandem bike has to go around the track 50 times. To prepare for this the teams practice up to two months before, holding team practices multiple times a week and going to spin class at the Rec Center at 6 am.

Awards: After all of the work put in the week comes to a close where the organizations find out where they placed. For such a long, and hard week they find out how well they really did.